Jules Verneâs novels may have done as much as anything to spur man to new heightsâliterally.
In 1862 Verne had much to do with a new society founded in France. Its founders were an aristocrat, a sailor and a journalist-photographer. As disparate as were their backgrounds and professions, they were as one in their belief in the future of heavier-than-air flight. They founded their group to propagate this prophetic belief.
The new organization began life unÂder the ponderous title of Societe dâencouragement pour la locomotion aerienne au moyen dâappariels plus lourds que lâair. This was quickly shortÂened to the Societe dâaviation. This was, incidentally, the first use of the word âaviationâ in the name of an organizaÂtion. It was in fact a word coined by one of the society's three founders, the sailor, Gabrielle de la Landelle, inventor (on paper at least) of the great âSteam Air Liner.â


His two co-founders were the Vicomte de Ponton d'Amecourt (pictured), who had actually built a working model of a steam-powered helicopter, and the flamboyantly eccentric âNadar.â Nadar was the pseudonym under which Felix Tournachon worked as one of the contiÂnentâs, and indeed historyâs, great phoÂtographers. Among his many accomplishÂments was the invention of the photo-interview and the first aerial photoÂgraph. By 1862, his energies had turned to the problem of aerial navigation.
Advertisement
By the end of the societyâs first year, Jules Verne had also become an acÂtive member, as its recording secretary. The society had also drawn other distinÂguished members, including Verneâs close friends George Sand and Dumas, father and son.
Aviation historian George Gibbs-Smith described the Societe d âAviation as a âsyndicateââ dedicated to the promotion of heavier-than-air flight, adding that Jules Verne was one of its âmost powerÂful aerial propagandists.ââ By its second year the society was publishing its own magazine, Aeronaute, with contribuÂtions by its members. In an 1863 article (for Musee des familles), Verne concludÂed: âThen let us predict the helicopter, and take for our motto that of Nadar: all that is possible will come to pass.â In response to this piece, de la Landelle wrote: â[Jules Verne] has given to aeriÂal navigation an article which could not have come from a pen more competent or far-seeing than his.â A far-seeing comment itself, as Verne had only just recently published his first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon.

Advertisement
Nadar, like de la Landelle, had inventÂed a helicopterâon paper.

Fascinated by the possibilities of rotary-winged flight, Nadar hoped that the society would be able to raise funds to build a working model. In order to do this, Nadar builtâ ironicallyâthe worldâs largest balloon, appropriately named Le Geant.
Advertisement

Many of Le Geantâs features mirrored those of the title balloon in Verneâs novÂelâillustrating how closely Verne had been working with Nadarâs schemes.
Meanwhile, dâAmecourt was building a working model of his helicopter. It was exhibited at the London Aeronautical Exhibition of 1868, and was a wonder of engineering and workmanship with boiler and frame of aluminum and steam cylinders of bronze.
Advertisement
Jules Verne was busily soaking up all of the information and theory that he could from these three men and their enthusiastic associates. Their work drew correspondence from aeronauts from all over the world, eager to share their disÂcoveries, plans and theories. Verne beÂcame familiar with the helicopter designs of such inventors as Cossus, Bright, Pomes and de la Pauze, Acher-bach, Dieudade, Melikoff, Castel, Forlanini and scores of others (in the novel that was to come, Verne credits more than 70 individual inventors). Just as his first novel had been born of his interest in ballooning, Verne the heavier-than-air propagandist could not resist the opporÂtunity to popularize the aims of the Societe dâAviation.
Five Weeks in a Balloon had been a great success. Its publisher, Jules Hetzel, had immediately signed Verne to a lifelong, two-book-a-year contract. The new, best-selling author followed his inÂitial success with such classics as A Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon (in which Nadar makes a thinly disguised guest appearance as âArdanâ), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 80 Days and more than two dozen others by the year 1886. All the while, Verne continued to take an active interest in the progress of aviation, taking notes, meticulously gathering material. (By the way, the oft-repeated story that Verne was inspired by American dime novels is simply untrue.)
The novel that all this research finally produced is Robur the Conqueror (1886). It is the ultimate manifesto of the 19th centuryâs quest for heavier-than-air flight.
Advertisement

The book opens with a description of what today would be a classic UFO flap: mysterious lights, sounds and objects seen in the skies of all the worldâmystiÂfying those who see them, hotly denied by the scientific âestablishment.â It is finally revealed that all of these pheÂnomena have a common source: a giant flying machine. It is an amazing device, invented and constructed by the enigÂmatic genius engineer âRoburâ (âI am worthy of the name,â boasts Robur, whose name is the Latin for âoakâ). His machine, the âAlbatross,â brings to vicarious life all of the dreams of de la Landelle, Nadar and dâAmecourt, imÂproved and perfected.

Advertisement
The Albatross brought literal meaning to the word âairship.â It was a slender, clipper-shaped hull made of hydraulically compressed paper, 100 feet long and 12 feet wide. Above its flat deck stood a veritable forest of slender masts, 37 of them, each with twin, contra-rotating propellers at the top. At the bow and stern were two more proÂpellers. A large rudder steered the âclipper of the clouds,â and spring-loaded shock absorbers cushioned its landings. Its motive power was elecÂtricity, stored in accumulators âof exÂtraordinary strength.â All of the non-metallic parts of the machinery were made of cellulose. Top speed was 120 miles an hour; its range was virÂtually unlimited.

As a best-selling author, Verne was alÂways very fortunate in his illustratorsâas a best-selling author his publisher spared little expense in making the books lavish productions. Most of his books contain from 80 to more than 100 woodcuts. Robur the Conqueror was ilÂlustrated by one of the best, Leon BenÂnett, who created the art for many of the authorâs novels. As he often did, Verne provided Bennett with reference materials and his own sketches, so that the Albatross accurately depicted what Verne envisioned.
Advertisement

One of the enthusiastic readers of Robur the Conqueror was a young boy in Kiev, reading the book in a Russian translation. He had long been a fan of the French author and was especially fascinated by the description of the AlÂbatross. The boy was Igor Sikorsky, and he never forgot the dream inspired by his favorite author. He hoped to some day create a machine like the fabulous Albatross. When, at the age of 19, he read of a demonstration flight the Wright brothers had recently made in Europe, he decided that his contribution to aviation would be the invention of the helicopter. He had not forgotten the inspiration of his favorite story.
His first attempt at constructing a working helicopter was a failure, and Sikorsky abandoned the idea for 30 years, turning instead to the airplane, where his successes were history-making. Not until he had been working for many years in his adopted country, the United States, did he finally attempt another helicopterâthis time with three decades of aviation experience behind him. Sikorsky was joined by his younÂger cousin, Igor Alexis, who also had been led into a career in aviation by his boyhood reading of Verne.
Advertisement


On September 14, 1939, a spindly framework of tubing, wires and machineryâit could not have looked more like a farmerâs windmill after a tornadoâleft the ground. During the maiden flight of the VS-300 it rose only a matter of inches, but it was the first flight of the worldâs first practical helicopter and the direct ancestor of the giant military and civilian Sikorsky helicopters of our day. The dream of Jules Verne and the Societe dâAviation had finally come true.
Advertisement